We spend our way to the poorhouse. We buy giant TVs and iPads. Our children wear nice clothes thanks to high-i... — J. D. Vance

We spend our way to the poorhouse. We buy giant TVs and iPads. Our children wear nice clothes thanks to high-interest credit cards and payday loans. We purchase homes we don't need, refinance them for more spending money, and declare bankruptcy, often leaving them full of garbage in our wake. Thrift is inimical to our being.

Author: J. D. Vance

Insight: There's something quietly terrifying about recognizing yourself in this observation. Most of us aren't trying to fail—we're just navigating a culture that's systematically rewired what feels normal. A slightly nicer version of something we almost can't afford doesn't feel like excess when everyone around us is doing it. The credit card swipe becomes invisible, a frictionless moment that erases the distance between wanting and having. What's tricky is that this isn't purely about willpower or discipline. The system is genuinely designed to make spending easier than not spending. But Vance's point about thrift being "inimical to our being" hints at something deeper: we've lost the social muscle for it. Thrift used to be a virtue people took pride in—a sign of wisdom and self-respect. Now it can feel like deprivation, like you're the only one sitting on the sidelines. We've inherited an economy that profits from our discomfort, and it's wrapped that profit-seeking in the language of deserving, self-care, and normal life. The real wake-up call isn't that we're spending too much. It's that we've largely stopped asking whether we're spending on purpose or just spending because the path of least resistance leads us there.